Catch up

It’s been almost two weeks since I blogged, or kept my log, or did much else except pack boxes – what a whirl wind.

The big move is almost done. I had a wonderful visit with DD2, who is back in Oregon. The studio walls are up, furniture moved, still have one empty shelf to fill and then I’m done! Well, not quite, I still have a few boxes of things to put in storage and a few piles of things to dispose of. The truck will be here Sunday, so it’s crunch time.

And I still have to catch up on all the normal household tasks that I’ve ignored the past two weeks. The bills paid, doctors appointments made, phones and cars repaired, garden tucked in for the winter. Our modern life is complex, no wonder I dream about escaping to the Appalachian Trail.

I have been busy playing catch up at work, too. After a ten-day vacation, it always takes a couple of weeks to get out from under the backlog. And I will soon have a new job at work, so I’m heading for a hard stop on the current projects and need to have them ready to hand over to someone new. My new position starts October 7 and I’m really excited at the opportunity! I’ve worked as an enterprise business analyst since starting there 5 years ago. The first part of this year, they downsized my boss, and scattered her team members to other parts of the business. I had contemplated a move back into project management, and this seems like a good opportunity. I feel lucky that my new boss was really supportive in making this change possible! Yesterday, I met with my new director for the first time. Since I knew little to nothing about her, I decided to ditch my Vibram Five Fingers and wear “real shoes” for the first meeting. The conference room was only a few steps down the hall from my desk and the meeting would be “sit down”. I packed by strappy red heels in my brief case. Come meeting time, my feet were a little surprised! All went well and it was fun for a moment to wear pretty shoes. And my feet don’t seem any the worse for it this morning.

The hardest part of this job change will be deciding if, when, and how much of the RA story to tell. Handicapped parking stickers, rolling brief cases, VFFs, and sit-to-stand desks all make RA visible, and I feel vulnerable in the workplace.

Saw PT1 yesterday. It had been three weeks since my last appointment. And – ta da – the good news is that the edema was still at bay. Not gone, but not any lost ground since the last time I saw her. She spent about half our hour doing lymph massage, and the other half working on my right hand. I’ve spent more time at the computer at work, finishing up things before my job change. My right hand has not been happy about the additional hours at the key board. PT1 performed her usual magic and this morning my right hand feels amazing, no edema, no tender hot spots, strong, flexible, almost good as new with just a teeny bit of ache in my index finger. Amazing! My left hand is jealous and noticeably stiffer, sorer and weaker than the right.

I wonder if I could see her for an hour or two a day, instead of an hour a week, we could get ahead of this, instead of always playing catch up. That would be truly amazing.